On Friday, Marianne and I headed to Rye to catch the 2 PM Granite 
State whale-watching cruise out of Rye Harbor to the Isles of Shoals, 
Jefferys Ledge, and beyond.  As we pulled in, we got a call that it 
was down due to mechanical problems, so we got on the wait list for 
the 1:30 PM Atlantic Queen II.  We took the AQ II out on calm seas 
with just a little foam on the crest and 1-foot swells.  The birding 
was great, starting at the harbor with Little Gulls and lots of 
terns.  All four shearwaters, both storm-petrels, gannets, and a 
puffin were seen on the cruise.  Since we were down there over night, 
we signed up for the 8:30 AM Granite State cruise.  Same birds (minus 
the puffin), just much fewer of them.  The fishing boats seemed to be 
like magnets, attracting them from far and wide.  On the way in, we 
got behind a small commercial boat going in with hundreds of seabirds 
following behind.  We carefully scanned the crowd and found a skua 
bullying the gulls.  Although we told both boats we were birders, no 
birds were called out on either boat over the course of the cruises, 
so be prepared to bird on your own.

Highlights (for us):

Great (100s), Sooty (100s), Cory's (10s), and Manx (6-10) Shearwaters
Wilson's (100s) and Leach's (10s) Storm-Petrels
Northern Gannets (6)
South Polar Skua (1)
Parasitic Jaeger (1)
Little (4), Laughing (2), Herring (100s), and Great-Black-backed Gulls (100s)
Common (10s), Roseate (2), and Royal (1) Terns
Atlantic Puffin (1)

Phalaropes had been reported but we didn't see any.  The only 
shorebirds we saw were two Greater Yellowlegs.
-- 
######################
Marianne & Michael Walsh
Weathersfield, VT

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